PLACES TO VISIT

Abakai Lourdes

Dreams may have tremendous power. For example, in 1921, a resident of Abakai Village, Kazimieras Navirauskas, had a strange dream. The Virgin Mary appeared to him near a spring, and Jesus Christ was standing on a hill. Having had the same dream several times, the resident of Abakai decided to act: he built a Lourdes grotto at the spring near his homestead and a wooden chapel on the hill he had seen in his dream. The grotto is decorated with a sculpture of the Virgin Mary, brought from France by the then dean, and the chapel is decorated with a sculpture of Christ carrying the cross, delivered from Švėkšna. The altar in the chapel, dating back to the 18th century, was brought from Budriai Church. The spring near the grotto has long been famous for its healing properties.